ILASS CIRCLE
E1 IS
pr il 9 o
• 5 l
of our ·en rated auctione r’s f • aces goin”‘ just a teeny , n; bit rt:d’
ra,…e and ar~ent co~lectors blench, S alloP hard and ,h •
fro, o e of those _lick, chic ‘Art Fairs’ that ar h ru_
· · d • e no ‘ t C: urrenL
ic rarit), a vase ecorated with sharks, hounds and ~tag~
9 –
v pre~~
ed
l th C. and estimated at £250, finally went to Sheppard and Co h
. oper at
t e l’a r1ce of £26 000. Good lu k to them for recognizing the real th’
. 1ng ~.en th i : they were o frequentlr outbid at the fa, ous Constable-.la.::v.·ell sale at
nearby.venue. It was unfortunate for them that on thi_ occasion Spinks th
underbidder was also hot on the trail. ‘
One of the finest specimens of early Venetian glass to ha·e come on the mark t
was sold at Christie’s to a German dealer for £11 000. This ~as a 12 in. di
plate (c. 1575) and incorporated several decorative techniques, gilding, lutti
0 thread and diamond point engraving.
There were no surprises at another Christie sale of what
we com:nonly call . 1 il 1.:a,
glass. A very attractive collection of coloured bells, ~alking sticks, rLpicr,
and bugles were still reasonably priced with the top price of £310 for an, thy
t
bell with white rim and clear handle. Of the same period, one of your aLtor~
picked up a pleasing collection of witch balls at a west country sale near .ail
L
and can reliably report that they appear very effective~
Other interesting lots to come under the hammer recently were
a fine ure ‘er
engTaved goblet and cover
(£5 800) and a damaged piece in blue glass but, “th
superb engraving by Herman Schwinger,dating about 1680, made £1000 –
a spl~ndid
acquisition. The Manchester City Art Gallery purchased an unusual Victorian
vase from the A.J.F. Christie Lambeth glassworks, designed by Richard Redgra,
and signed by him and dated 1847. Richard Redgrave was an able genre painter,
designing for the Suumerly Art Manufacturers. The vase fetched £420.
Tiffany lamps go marching on and up in a way that would ha,·e delighted Aladdin.
Recent prices make your head reel. A collection of 45 Tiffany lamps, form d by
Joseph and Lillian Mihalec, fetched a total of nearly £600 000. The vendors ar~
now retiring
to Florida~ Pride of the collection, and sold for £164 383, \,as
a
l8’ll) with bronze base and superb shade in spiderweb lead~d glass. The prices
for Tiffany lamps do vary, however. Phi
11 ips in Glasgow sold one recently for
£1 500 (a snip~) and a not unusual Galle lamp for £11 000. An interesting
standard lamp with the base in the shape of a gilt bronze serpent designed by
Brand, and with a Daum glass shade fetched £12 914 at Bondu’s in Paris.
OLD WINDCMS FOR NEW AND NEW FOR OLD
The interest in stained glass, old and new, is ever expanding. A window,
recreated from fragments of Saxon glass, is shortly to be installed in St Pau:’s
church, Jarrow. The glass was excavated on the site of the original Jarrow
monastery, founded in the 670s, at which the Venerable Bede was raised as a
monk. Manchester cathedral has already two modern stained glass windows designed ~y
Antony Hollaway. The first, to St. George, was installed in 1973; t~e second,
to St. Denys, in 1976. Now a third window, designed by the same artist, ~
1J
honouring the cathedral’s third patron saint, the Virgin Mary, will be ded.(u~·l
on May
22nd.
BROADFIELD H()lJSE GLASS MUSEUM
This new mu~cum bringing together Dudley’s two famous glass collections, t’
Stourbridge ynd the Brierly Hill glass collections was formally op n d by
Princess Micl1ael of Kent on the 2nd April. News of this ev nt and impr ssiJn
of the new ~useum will be featured in the next issue of Glass Cir le News.
-2-
REPO EETINGS STU DY OF THE YOUNG GALLE AND HIS
EARL y L,~~- LE- BO~ ES CONNECTION – A REVEALING ~~
by G l>ri lla Gros on lSth January 1980 l eting held at the London Museum
d•
ery of correspondence between
the fo
Tl
• dealt with the fascinating iscov d h unde ns pap r ) J h nd Josephine Bowes, an t e two Gal If r of the Bow s_Museum (B~rnard Cas~le ‘ 0 ~h:
1871 International Exhibition in Lon~
father and his son, Emile, occasioned by
1871 and 1872 and
held in the < ·
Letters and bills dating mainly from the years l 'd for the first time Nmuse: archives, were discu~sed in detail and shown on s 1 es • rs C. os
describ d her discovery of this correspondence and the st
ep by st
ep research,
much of
it carried out in the cold unheated attics of the Bowes mus~um, ~ha
t enabled her to
substantiate, liaso11 and correlate the existing documents
with ~ 1st~rica1
events and
actual pieces by the Gall~s -glass and ceramics -whic~ are
st111 in
the B~we
7 Musl~
collections. These charming and intimate letters pro~1de aver~ person~l 1ns1g~t
into the father-son relationship, and present a revealing portrait of Emile Galle at
the age of
25 - immediately after his return from the Franco-Prussian war -a most
significant period in the artist's life.
As a result of these discoveries, Mrs Gros was able to identify the pi ces in the
Bowes collection as belonging to the earliest group of artistic glass to have been
designed by Emile Gall~, and to bear his personal signature. These are; a crystal
cabaret set consisting of a tray, water carafe, liqueur flask, sugar basin and two
tumblers and saucers, all made in
1872; a bonuonni~rc; and a vase also in clear
crystal. All these glass~s are decorated with superb engraving, the bonbonni're,
in particular, is of magnificent workmanship, having a pattern of most delicate lace
frills, ribbons, flowers and insects, probably carried out by German or Bohemian
trained artisans. Galle faience so far located at Bowes Museum consists of a pair
of jardini;res and an interesting ewer with a full length portrait representing
King Stanislas Leckzinski.
This beautifully presented talk is a good example of how chance favours the well
prepared mind it is ironic to think that this countrypossesses some of the earliest
authenticated Gall~ glass stowed_away in a museum not particularly noteworthy for
its glass collection. It also illustrates the pleasure with which our museum
professionals will readily assist in unravelling the history of the artifacts in
their charge. Our hosts were Miss Darrah, Mr Fox and Mr Newgas.
MIRRORS by Cyril Staal
Meeting held in tl,e Council Room, Guy's Hospital Medical School on 21st February
Our speaker, better known by his nom de plume, Geoffrey Wills gave an entertaining
talk on the subject of mirrors with particular reference to t~chnical aspects of
their rnanuf ac ture and interspers~d with some amusing anecdotes• In a br ie:.f histor
ical introduction he said that mirrors.were produced by a number of techniques.
The mld-lbth C. exports from Nuremberg wer~ of convex glass made from glass balls
(bulbs). By
1570 Venice produced mirrors in about 8 different sizes, made by the
cylinder ( broadsheet) technique• The crown technique was also applied, some rtiol1•
apparently being produced in Newcastle, although this glass must have caused disto
The French introduced the casting technique in 1665, and this was applied partic
ularly at Ravenhcad, St. Helens, by the 3rd quarter of the 18th century: a hundreds
years earlier Charles Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, had produced blown mirror
glaS
at Lwnbeth having been granted sole patent of manufacturing and importing mirror
gla s,whereupon he founded the first factory of blown mirror glass in Lambeth in
16710. i s at first achieved by by a mixture of copper and tin then by an amalgllin Si ver ng wa b
1 d
, t of
of tin and mercury -the mercury e ng sprea on to tinfoil covered with a she b for
Th lass was then plac dover the paper which was drawn off quickly
p per.
e ~ of glass nd mercury• Excess mercury was th n sque zed out• In t d actual contac och,ac d v r " backin, bi h lat r co• t bout 1808 Ju w c w hard r 1utt
-J
N CHE 'T R GLASS by Roger Dodsworth 1
1 ting h ld at Soth .rby' s , South
. End, South K nsington.
Gla mnk ·n 1n 1anchester has a long his tor
1
I • t
• . y a though lit tl j 19th c. 1 i y is not particularly associated . h e .s known before h
l Sl a writ j, the Art Journal was surpri--ed th wit glass making and even . l l h • ::s at good gla in anch c: t t a 10ug l ts weekly production at that tim ss could come fror.i
flint 1a5-, lL, e. ,e was some 25 tons of
The earlie t known furnace is early 17th c at H h
f h •
, • aug ton Green Dent b
miles. rom t e c1 ty. centre. By the second half of the lBth ' on, a out 5
.ere u1 use as outlined by Buckley in "Old Lancashire Glassho C • o~her fu:nacEcs
little long term success. Butterworth's the last M h uses but with • .d h , anc ester glasshouse to clos~ '. ~s sa1 to_ 1ave succeeded one established in 1795 at Newton Heath
But it 1s not unt1 about 1830 that a meaningful glass
1·nd t
•. f • h
1 • • us ry was established• 1ve ouses, most y situated 1n one small area Ancotes rn d th· f • . , , a e 1 s one o the more important glassmaking areas in England. But why Manchester? It would
, eem that thi: :a~idly developing, rich industrial area,
with good transport
and other fac1l1t1es, had much to offer in the way of trade both at home and
for export
contacts. Local coal fuelled the furnaces. Advertisements and
trade cards illustrate their premises: some buildings may still stand.
The most important glassworks was
Molineaux Webb & Co., founded in 1827 and Mr
Dodsworth outlined what was known of its history. Nothing is known of Molineau.·
but the Webbs were glassmakers from Warrington and a cigar case presented by the
factory to a founder, Thomas, still survives. Most of what we know about thei
products comes from a magnificent series of design books purchased by ManchesL'r
City Art Gallery in 1977 (see GC News No.4). The diversity and quality of tb,
products was illustrated by a series of slides showing decanters, basins and
creams, carafJes and ups (tumblers), water jugs and goblets and celeries as well
as minor items. A finely engraved decanter, bearing the MW monogram, goblets
and a tumbler handed down to Thomas Webb's great great grand-daughter were al~,
illustrated. The tumbler, engraved and signed A. Bohm was probably not an
M.W. product but acquired out of respect for this magnificent worker. Anoth(r
Bohemian, Willelm Pohl,
did come to Manchester in 1875 and engraved a fine 15 ·nch
high goblet commemorating the opening of the Town Hall in 1877. A space was
left for a port-cait of the Mayor, Alderman Heywood, to whom it was presented, L>ut.
this was not completed. The goblet was made by another Manchester manufacturer,
Andrew Ker. These pieces apart there are few other known examples of ha?d mad(-‘
cut
or engraved Manchester glass although advertisements show that other firms,
Percival Vickers, Burtles Tate and the Derbyshire Bros., produced simila: producls.
More is
known of the high quality pressed glass, identifiable by the registry mark,
and Mr Dodsworth
discussed the products of Molineaux Webb, mostly table glass
often
with the pattern highlighted by a band of ‘matting’ applied to the exterior,
and John Derbyshire (anchor and JD mark) who was particularly associated with
ornamental statuettes of dogs, Brittania, Punch and Judy
etc. in both clear and
coloured glass. These products
were more akin to the pottery industry. They
were illustrated by slides and by specimens brought along by members.
In the absence of our
President, Mr Whatmoor chaired the meeting and thanked our
speal·cr and hosts, Barbara Morris and Messrs Sotheby, Parke Ber~ett 6. Co.,for
making possible a
delightful evening in a remote corner of Kensington.
-oOo-
W·LCOME TO NEW MEMBERS Miss Annette Carruthers, Asst. Keeper, Decorative Arts, Leicester Museun
Mr John Compton (rejoining) of London, N.l.
Mrs McIntyre Lo make a husband and wife team in Brockenhurst, Hants.
AID FAREWELL TO OLD FRIENDS · d th f It is with 8 great sense of shock that we learnt of the tragic ea
1~
pt Lazarus
in a car accident in Austria wher Peter had taken pup s
e er o 11 nr Bristol, One of ouT most
i 01 d
-4-
·i 11 be remembered as on of th highlights of Glass Ci rel
r nt / rs. Widely known al auction, he skillfully built
l!OIIS coll ction of drinking glasses for Cinzano in a rer arkably
tirn and provided our member with another inemorabl v ning
nt on sh w at the Victoria and Albert Mus um in 197 (see GC
ThP atalogue of the colle tion he produced will probably be
1 as ting memorial. His familiar face will be missed by all
w al O e,·L1.:n I our warm sympathy to the widow of Mr J.P. Kncaf sey of ‘ewton
mountk n